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Hogg set to make first sevens appearance

Scotland, British & Irish Lions and Glasgow Warriors full-back, Stuart Hogg, will make his first appearance in a Scotland 7s jersey this weekend in a one day sevens event in London (Saturday 12 July).

Head coach, Stephen Gemmell will travel with a squad of 13 players to Sevens and the City which will take place at Allianz Park, the home of Aviva Premiership side Saracens.

Some 11 of the 13 selected players are part of the forthcoming Commonwealth Games squad. The only omission is Colin Gregor who misses out as he continues to recover from a concussion received in Moscow a fortnight ago.

Struan Dewar and Mark Robertson are called in from outwith the Team Scotland group, while Sean Lamont makes his return for the first time since 2009.

Richie Vernon rejoins the side after being involved at the Glasgow 7s back in May and Scott Wight returns having been involved in Lyon on the FIRA-AER circuit but not Moscow.

Sevens and the City will be the last tournament Scotland 7s compete in before they take to the Ibrox turf on Saturday 26 July at Glasgow 2014.

Gemmell said: "I'm really enthused about taking this squad to London. There has been a lot of excitement this week, with our Team Scotland camp last weekend and being based at Stirling University with a number of the other athletes this week.

This tournament is vital to our Commonwealth Games preparations and it is the first time this group of players will play together.

"This weekend is about looking at different player combinations and fine tuning our game plans. Also, given there are four games, we have been fortunate enough to take an extra player to balance the load and it has been good for Struan [Dewar] and Mark [Robertson] to be a part of our training in Stirling this week.

"This weekend will be good for Sean [Lamont] and Stuart [Hogg] and their understanding of how they can use their individual skills to benefit the team and I know they are both really excited about the opportunity.

"My challenge is to put together a group of players who are better and more prepared than ever before, to run out at Ibrox, and achieve something great in a Scotland 7s jersey. Sevens and the City will continue to sharpen the minds of players and management to the task in hand over the coming weeks.”

Scotland 7s will compete in Group B with Germany, Wailers and Wales at 2.20pm, 4pm and 5.40pm respectively on Saturday.

After the group stage, each team in the international tournament will play a fourth game against the side that finished in their equivalent position in Group A, which is made up of England, Papua New Guinea, Apache and Barbados.

Gemmell continued: "Germany and Wales we know well from FIRA tournaments and the World circuit. Wales will be similar to us, preparing for Glasgow 2014 and Germany will be looking to build on strong performances recently, in Europe.

"Wailers are always a strong invitational team who will want to put down a marker. However my focus is purely on how my players gel as a team and most importantly that we come away with the key lessons learnt to take into the next fortnight.”